A long weekend golfing in Belgium

This is the one for groups who want golf and a good town in equal measure. You base yourself in Bruges at Martin’s Brugge, a comfortable 3-star a few minutes’ walk from the market square, then play out along the coast and the lanes around the city.

The headline round is Royal Zoute at Knokke-Heist, a genuine seaside test that has hosted plenty of serious golf over the years. Pair it with Royal Latem, a calm, flat, beautifully kept parkland just outside Ghent, and Damme, which has 27 holes so you can mix and match nines. In the evening you are back on the cobbles, and Bruges does food and beer as well as anywhere in Europe. From around £440pp for the stay and play with the crossing included. Calais to Bruges is about an hour, so you can be checked in and out for a twilight nine on arrival day if you set off early.

If the group is here mainly for the golf, this is the stronger card. You base at the Van der Valk Hotel Waterloo, a roomy 4-star with the battlefield on the doorstep, and play a cluster of Wallonia’s best within a short drive of each other.

Royal Waterloo gives you two full eighteens of mature, well-drained parkland. Royal Bercuit is a clever Robert Trent Jones design with plenty of movement in the land. Golf Château de la Tournette has 36 holes across two contrasting courses, and Royal Hainaut adds a third Royal if you want a four-round weekend. From around £385pp for three nights and two rounds, rising to roughly £880pp for seven nights and five rounds. A fair word of warning: Royal Waterloo and Royal Bercuit can carry a green-fee premium, so we will price those clearly in your quote rather than bury them. Calais to Waterloo is about an hour and a half to two hours.

If you have four nights and want the best of both, do a two-centre. Spend the first couple of days on the Wallonia Royals out of Waterloo, then drive up to Bruges for the coastal courses and a night or two in the old town. The hop between the two is short, roughly an hour and a half, and we set the booking up so your rooms and tee times line up without you juggling anything.

It is a tidy way to see two very different sides of Belgian golf in one trip: the serious, tree-lined Royals of the south and the breezier seaside golf up north, with a proper town to finish in. If you want a touch more comfort along the way, Martin’s Château du Lac at Genval makes a smart lakeside base between the two.

Some groups want the trip to carry a bit of weight, and Ypres delivers that. You base at Hotel Ariane, a friendly 4-star in town, and play Palingbeek, a parkland course laid out across the old battlefield where so many British and Commonwealth soldiers fought.

Every evening at eight o’clock the buglers of the local fire brigade sound the Last Post under the Menin Gate, as they have done since 1928. It is a short walk from the hotel and it stops you in your tracks. Pair a round or two with that, and a quiet pint afterwards, and you have a weekend that means something more than a scorecard. Ypres sits close to the Calais road, so it also works as a first night before you push on to the coast or the Royals.

Most of these trips are buddies’ groups or societies, and the thing that catches people out is tee times, not hotels. The good Royals get busy at weekends in summer, so the earlier you commit the better the chance of the slots you want. We hold tee times as part of the booking, which means your group has confirmed starts before you set off, not a hopeful phone call on arrival.

On numbers: a fourball is the natural unit, but we book eights, twelves and full society trips regularly, and bigger groups often get a better rate per head on rooms. On cost, as a rough guide the stay-and-play, B&B, crossing-included prices start at around £385pp at Waterloo, £440pp in Bruges and £470pp at Ypres for the short break, with longer stays and extra rounds adding to that. Spending money for food, beer and any green-fee premium on the marquee clubs sits on top, and we will spell all of it out in the quote.

The crossing is the easy bit. LeShuttle runs from Folkestone, the journey itself is about 35 minutes, you stay in your car, and the return crossing for one vehicle is included in the price. From Calais it is about an hour to Bruges, an hour and a half to two hours to Waterloo, and the roads are good fast motorway most of the way.

Pack for variable weather even in summer: a few light layers, decent waterproofs and a warm mid-layer for an early tee, because the coast can blow. Bring your EHIC or GHIC card and your driving licence, and remember you will need the usual European driving kit in the car. The courses are smart old clubs, so a collared shirt and tidy golf trousers will keep everyone happy. Beyond that it is clubs, shoes, a bit of euro cash for the halfway hut, and you are set. You can see the full picture, hotels and courses, on our Belgium golf holidays page.